Totting Up Driving Ban

Under section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 “Totting up” means amassing 12 or more penalty points on your driving licence within a three year period upon which you will be facing a possible disqualification from driving. A totting up disqualification for repeated offences is usually 6 months but there are circumstances when this can be increased.

Any offences that carry penalty points are included in the totting up procedure. For example, if you have received 6 points for an offence of failing to furnish driver details and subsequently receive two separate 3 point penalties for speeding offences then this totals 12 points and means that you must, therefore, be considered for disqualification by the courts.

However, the court may allow you to continue driving even with 12 points or more on your licence if you would face Exceptional Hardship as a result of being banned from driving. Exceptional Hardship means that you would face greater hardship than would normally be faced when being disqualified from driving. Simply being inconvenienced is not sufficient.

It is at the Court’s discretion as to whether your circumstances are deemed Exceptional Hardship, and whilst the decision thereafter would normally be whether to disqualify or not, they also have the power to impose a shorter ban than they normally would.

A totting up disqualification, unlike other disqualifications, will wipe away all penalty points that are taken into account at the time that the ban is imposed. This is often a small consolation when someone is facing a lengthy period off the road.

With experienced and professional driving offence solicitors, it may be possible to avoid a totting up disqualification, whether it be by preventing the points being imposed in the first place or arguing Exceptional Hardship and as such you should get in touch as soon as you are aware of the prospect of facing a totting up ban.